Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/176291363?client_source=feed&format=rss
golden state warriors jason trawick tony romo jerry lewis tampa bay bucs cowboys cowboys
Monday, December 19, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Historic visit to Libya by Pentagon chief Panetta
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, center right, with U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Crets, center left, and Gen. Carter Ham, Commander U.S. Africa Command, third from left, places a wreath at the grave site of 13 U.S. Navy sailors during a ceremony at the Protestant Cemetery in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Dec., 17, 2011. Panetta visited the grave site of the sailors, who where killed on the USS Intrepid in 1804. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, center right, with U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Crets, center left, and Gen. Carter Ham, Commander U.S. Africa Command, third from left, places a wreath at the grave site of 13 U.S. Navy sailors during a ceremony at the Protestant Cemetery in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Dec., 17, 2011. Panetta visited the grave site of the sailors, who where killed on the USS Intrepid in 1804. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Libyan Prime Minister Abd al-Rheem Al-Keeb greet one another during their joint news conference in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Dec., 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, second from left, leaves the grave site of 13 U.S. Navy sailors at the Protestant Cemetery in Tripoli, Libya, after participating in a wreath laying ceremony Saturday, Dec., 17, 2011. Panetta visited the grave site of the sailors, who where killed on the USS Intrepid in 1804. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, center, leaves his challenge coin on the grave stone during the wreath laying ceremony with U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Crets, obscured third from left, and Gen. Carter Ham, second from left, Commander U.S. Africa Command, at grave site of 13 U.S. Navy sailors at the Protestant Cemetery in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Dec., 17, 2011. Panetta visited the grave site of the sailors, who where killed on the USS Intrepid in 1804. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)
U.S. Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta, left, is presented with a gift during his meeting with Libyan Minister of Defense Usama al-Jwayli, right, in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) ? U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said "the torch of freedom" has passed to the Libyan people and he pledged during a historic visit Saturday to Tripoli that the United States will do all it can to help the country move toward democracy.
But he and his Libyan hosts acknowledged the threat of Islamic militants gaining ground in this period of political uncertainty following the ouster and death of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Panetta and Libyan leaders identified challenges for the government now forming, including how to gain control of the militias that overthrew Gadhafi during an eight-month civil war.
"This will be a long and difficult transition, but I have confidence that you will succeed in realizing the dream of a representative government," Panetta said during a news conference with Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib.
"The torch of freedom that has passed throughout the centuries and now passes from nation to nation in the Middle East and North Africa burns brightly here in Libya. May it light your way to a future of peace, prosperity and freedom," Panetta said.
While his visit was brief, Panetta made history as the first U.S. Pentagon chief to set foot on Libyan soil.
He evoked U.S. history, too, with a visit to the cemetery presumed to hold remains of U.S. sailors killed in Tripoli harbor in 1804. Their deaths were memorialized in the famous "shores of Tripoli" line in the Marine Corps hymn.
Both Panetta and al-Keeb expressed confidence that the fledgling government will be able to reach out to the militias and bring them together.
"We know how serious this issue is," said al-Keeb, "We realize it is not matter of saying 'OK, put down your arms, go back to work or do what you want to do.' We realize that there are lots of things that we need to be organized."
More broadly, Panetta said the revolts across the region represent a quest for sovereignty by the people, but they will all involve different approaches and challenges.
During meetings with the Libyan leaders, Panetta expressed concern about al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb militants gaining a foothold amid the chaos of an unfolding democracy. But they told him that the Libyan people will reject the terrorist group, said a senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.
Panetta's motorcade from the airport into the city provided views of the nation's violent past and future promise ? lush orange groves, carcasses of bombed buildings and charred and graffiti-covered compound once occupied by Gadhafi. Flying from rooftops were the green, black and red flags, adorned with a star and a crescent, belonging to the new government.
At one point, amid the graffiti splashed across the walls of Gadhafi's former compound was a short comment in English: "Thanx US/UK."
The visit also put the man who has led much of the U.S. terrorism fight over the past several years at the scene of one of the first American wars on terror, more than two centuries ago.
Panetta went to what historians believe is the gravesite of as many as 13 U.S. sailors killed in 1804, when the Navy ship Intrepid exploded while slipping into Tripoli harbor to attack pirate ships that had captured an American frigate.
As the story goes, governments along the Barbary coast had turned to state-sponsored piracy to raise money, attacking and taking over merchant ships, enslaving their crews and stealing their bounties. Unwilling to pay fees to protect its ships, the U.S. sent the Navy frigate Philadelphia to the region but it ran aground just off Tripoli and was captured.
President Thomas Jefferson sent a team to get the Philadelphia back or destroy it. Under cover of darkness, the Intrepid sailed into the harbor, killed about 25 pirates and burned the Philadelphia.
A few months later, Jefferson sent the Intrepid back to destroy as many of the pirate ships as possible. The plan was to pack the ketch with explosives, sail into the harbor and blow her up.
The 13 sailors never got to their destination. The ship exploded prematurely killing all aboard and the next day bodies washed ashore. They were buried outside Tripoli, but in 1949 the remains were moved to The Protestant Cemetery by the Libyan government.
On Saturday, Panetta walked into the small walled cemetery and slowly made his way to a corner where five large but simple white gravestones mark the graves of the American sailors. Markers on four of the stones read, "Here lies an American sailor who gave his life in the explosion of the United States Ship Intrepid in Tripoli Harbour, Sept. 4, 1804."
Panetta placed a wreath at the site and, after a moment of silence, placed one of his U.S. secretary of defense souvenir coins on top of one of the stones.
New life was breathed into the long-ago tale by Congress this year. Lawmakers, prodded by descendants of the sailors, added provisions to the defense bill ordering the Pentagon to study the feasibility of exhuming the bodies and bringing them home to America.
In a statement, Panetta said the recent effort to restore the cemetery is "a symbol of the values we share."
Officials said that Panetta made no specific offers of assistance to the Libyan leaders, and he told reporters that there was no discussion of providing military equipment or weapons.
"They have to determine what their needs are and what kind of assistance is required," he said. "And whatever they need, the United States will be happy to respond."
Ahead of Panetta's visit, the Obama administration announced it had lifted penalties that were imposed on Libya in February to choke off Gadhafi's financial resources while his government was using violence to suppress peaceful protests.
The U.S. at the time blocked some $37 billion in Libyan assets, and a White House statement said Friday's action "unfreezes all government and central bank funds within U.S. jurisdiction, with limited exceptions."
Associated Press21 jump street 19 kids and counting 2011 election results 11/11/11 11 11 11 activision blizzard acrylamide
Richard Dallas of Lyons accused in sexual assault of infant (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/176124007?client_source=feed&format=rss
velasquez vs dos santos velasquez vs dos santos manny pacquiao vs. juan manuel marquez manny pacquiao vs. juan manuel marquez cain velasquez vs dos santos cain velasquez vs dos santos oregon stanford
Saturday, December 17, 2011
4 ways to avoid a government shutdown (The Week)
New York ? With Congress deadlocked over how to extend a payroll tax break, federal agencies are bracing for the possibility that they'll have to close their doors
The Obama administration is telling federal agencies to prepare for a possible government shutdown, as Democrats and Republicans remain deadlocked over extending a payroll-tax break due to expire at the end of the year. Both sides want to prolong the tax holiday, but they disagree over how to pay for it ? Democrats want a surtax on millionaires, and Republicans want Medicare premium hikes for upper-income seniors, among other measures. To force a deal, Senate Democrats have tied the issue to a spending bill, and if that's not passed the government will run out of money at midnight Friday. How can they avoid disaster? Here, four possible solutions:
1. Pass a short-term spending bill, then talk
Neither party is eager to close government agencies' doors, says Erik Wasson at The Hill, since both "stand to be blamed by the public if the government shuts down." Congress has "lurched toward shutdowns repeatedly this year, only to avert them, often at the last minute." Passing a short-term spending deal will buy more time. And with "brinkmanship on both sides" holding up the $1 trillion spending package, it's looking increasingly like that's the only way out.?
SEE MORE: One cheer for the super committee failure
?
2. Democrats cave, by giving up on the millionaire surtax
In what CNN says would be a "major concession," President Obama and his fellow Democrats may be preparing to drop their insistence on sticking the wealthy with the bill, says Allahpundit at Hot Air. That would sting, "given how well tax hikes on the rich poll." But let's be honest. "There was no way" Dems could make their plan fly. If they'd just untie the matter from the spending bill and make a deal, the GOP will probably drop the fast-tracking of a decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, in exchange.
3. Republicans cave, by dropping their poison pills
"As they've repeatedly done before, the GOP is exploiting the imminent shutdown of the government to push its conservative agenda," says Marie Diamond at Think Progress. They're insisting on sidestepping environmental regulations to push through an oil pipeline, and protect the rich. "This is the third time this year Republicans are using the threat of a government shutdown to get what they want." If they would just drop "these brinkmanship games" it would be easy to "compromise on a bill to keep the government?s lights on."
SEE MORE: Congress' 'wild final month': 5 predictions for December
?
4. Let the payroll-tax holiday expire, and get back to business
"In their rush to head home for the holidays," says the Chicago Tribune in an editorial, neither party is mentioning how extending the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits "would add to our already enormous national debt." The payroll taxes are supposed to go into the Social Security system, which is "already imperiled." It might have made sense to help struggling families out with a tax break in 2011, but it's "foolhardy" to keep this up. Congress should let the payroll tax break die and get back to work ? future generations of retirees will be grateful.
View this article on TheWeek.com
Get 4 Free Issues of The Week
Other stories from this topic:
Like on Facebook?-?Follow on Twitter?-?Sign-up for Daily Newsletterveterans day paterno oakland raiders carson palmer al davis edmund fitzgerald vincent brown
Hezbollah, terrorist financing, and Venezuela: Don't panic
Ayman Joumaa was indicted in Virginia this week for laundering Hezbollah money and helping smuggle drugs out of Latin America.? Blogger James Bosworth argues this is not a reason to worry.
The New York Times and ProPublica have details on the indictment of Ayman Joumaa, a Lebanese citizen who has laundered millions of dollars for Hezbollah while assisting with cocaine-trafficking routes out of Colombia and Venezuela. It appears his focus was routes through Europe, but he has also moved drugs through Mexico in coordination with the Zetas.
Skip to next paragraphThe case is notable for having all the key words that people get excited about: Hezbollah! Terrorist-financing! Cocaine! Zetas! Venezuela! And all of that appears to be true.
At the same time, in spite of all the red flag key words, the details within these articles and the indictment show how the US government can deal with the issue of Hezbollah in the hemisphere without panic and over-reaction.
It's important to take down the hemisphere's Hezbollah money laundering networks because they do finance terrorism in the Middle East and violent criminal organizations like the Zetas in this hemisphere. However, in some ways, it's just one more criminal network to take down. As one official told ProPublica, "It?s not like there?s a sit-down between the leaders of Hezbollah and the Zetas." Nor is this about Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran plotting together. It should not be portrayed as such.
Hezbollah has been laundering drug money in the hemisphere for well over a decade, which is an intelligence and law enforcement issue. The US and other governments have used civilian investigators to track down the money routes and build a case to indict top personnel and seize funds. The US Congress, which has often expressed concern over Hezbollah's activities, should see this indictment as a sign of success by the US government and an argument to fully fund and support US civilian law enforcement efforts by DEA, ATF, Treasury, and others to track and halt money laundering and other criminal activity in this hemisphere.
--- James Bosworth is a freelance writer and consultant who runs Bloggings by Boz.
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of Latin America bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.
referendum scarlett johansson glee project winner kris humphries remember the titans wale wale
Friday, December 16, 2011
A little Strikeforce video to get you excited for Saturday?s fights
It's been months since Strikeforce's last main card event, but they are coming back with a doozy. Take a minute to watch this video and be reminded of how fun their cards can be.
Gilbert Melendez is on a five-fight win streak, and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos is returning to the cage for the first time since June of 2010. Will they retain their belts, or lose them to Jorge Masvidal and Hiroko Yamanaka? Give us your predictions in the comments or on Facebook.
powerball winning numbers powerball winning numbers uc davis pepper spray uc davis pepper spray usc oregon breaking dawn part 2 breaking dawn part 2
Republicans muscle tax cut bill through House (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Defiant Republicans pushed legislation through the House Tuesday night that would keep alive Social Security payroll tax cuts for some 160 million Americans at President Barack Obama's request ? but also would require construction of a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline that has sparked a White House veto threat.
Passage, on a largely party-line vote of 234-193, sent the measure toward its certain demise in the Democratic-controlled Senate, triggering the final partisan showdown of a remarkably quarrelsome year of divided government.
The legislation "extends the payroll tax relief, extends and reforms unemployment insurance and protects Social Security ? without job-killing tax hikes," Republican House Speaker John Boehner declared after the measure had cleared.
Referring to the controversy over the Keystone XL pipeline, he added, "Our bill includes sensible, bipartisan measures to help the private sector create jobs."
On a long day of finger pointing, however, House Democrats accused Republicans of protecting "millionaires and billionaires, `' and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., derided the GOP-backed pipeline provision as "ideological candy" for the tea party-set.
After the House vote, the White House urged Congress on in finishing work on extending the tax cuts and jobless aid. Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a statement that didn't mention the pipeline but renewed Obama's insistence that the legislation be paid for, at least in part, by "asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share" in higher tax levies.
Lawmakers "cannot go on vacation before agreeing to prevent a tax hike on 160 million Americans and extending unemployment insurance," he said.
Republicans mocked Obama's objections to their version of the bill.
"Mr. President, we can't wait," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, employing a refrain the White House often uses to criticize Republicans for failing to take steps to improve an economy struggling to recover from the worst recession in decades.
Voting in favor of the legislation were 224 Republicans and 10 Democrats, while 179 Democrats and 14 Republicans opposed it.
At its core, the measure did include key parts of the jobs program that Obama asked Congress to approve in September.
The Social Security payroll tax cuts approved a year ago to help stimulate the economy would be extended through 2012, avoiding a loss of take-home income for wage-earners. An expiring program of unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless would remain in place, although at reduced levels that the administration said would cut off aid for 3.3 million.
A third major component would avert a threatened 27 percent cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients, a provision Republicans added to appeal to conservatives but one that the White House and Democrats embrace, too.
While the tax and unemployment provisions were less generous than Obama sought, he and Republicans clashed principally over steps to cover the estimated $180 billion cost of the measure, and on the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada through environmentally sensitive terrain in Nebraska to the Texas Gulf Coast.
Obama recently delayed a decision on granting a permit for the pipeline until after the 2012 election.
The payroll tax legislation was one of three major bills that Congress was struggling to finish before adjourning for the year, and by far the most contentious.
A measure covering Pentagon spending was ready for passage, and, separately, negotiators said they were close to a deal on a $1 trillion measure to fund most government agencies through the end of the budget year.
That deal was in limbo, though, with Obama and congressional Democrats using it as leverage to keep House Republicans at the table negotiating a final compromise on the tax and unemployment measure.
It was the final showdown of a year that once brought the government to the brink of a shutdown and also pushed the Treasury to the cusp of a first-ever default.
Those confrontations produced last-minute compromises.
This time, leaders in both parties stressed a desire to renew the unemployment tax cuts and jobless benefits that are at the core of Obama's jobs program.
Obama and most Democrats favor an income surtax on million-dollar earners to pay for extending the Social Security tax cut, but Republicans oppose that, saying it is a violation of their pledge not to raise taxes.
Instead, the House bill called for a one-year pay freeze and higher pension costs for federal workers, higher Medicare costs for seniors over $80,000 in income as well as other items to cover the cost.
Obama's veto message focused on economic issues ? which unite Democrats ? accusing Republicans of putting the burden of paying for the legislation on working families "while giving a free pass to the wealthiest and to big corporations by protecting their loopholes and subsidies."
Republicans drew attention at every turn to the pipeline, which is backed by some lawmakers in the president's party as well as by the blue-collar unions representing plumbers, pipefitters, electricians, carpenters and construction workers.
Estimates of the jobs that would be produced by pipeline construction vary widely but are in the thousands in a time of high national unemployment. The State Department estimated the total at about 6,000; project manager TransCanada put it at 20,000 directly, and Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., said in debate on the House floor it was more than 100,000.
Democrats aimed their criticism at the bill's impact on those who would bear the cost.
Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, the party's senior lawmaker on the Ways and Means Committee, displayed a placard that said "Seniors sacrifice: $31 billion. Federal workers sacrifice: $40 billion. Unemployed Americans sacrifice: $11 billion. Millionaires and billionaires sacrifice: $0."
The bill also "spends $300 million on a special interest provision that helps a handful of specialty hospitals while cutting billions from community hospitals," he said, referring to a part of the measure that will raise federal Medicare payments to doctor-owned hospitals.
Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, said he had an open mind about the pipeline but also said it had no legitimate role in the payroll tax bill.
Republicans argued otherwise.
Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the pipeline's construction would allow Canada to send one million barrels of oil a day into the United States, lessening domestic reliance on imports.
He said Canadian development of a pipeline is a certainty, and lawmakers needed to decide whether they wanted it to end up in the United States or "someplace like China."
As drafted by Republicans, the measure also would block the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing planned rules to limit toxic emissions from industrial boilers. Republicans said the regulation would be a job killer, and 41 Democrats supported an earlier stand-alone measure to prevent the administration from acting.
Other provisions to cover the cost of the legislation would repeal billions from the health care bill that Obama won from Congress last year when both the House and Senate were under Democratic control and from boosting fees that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge banks for backing their mortgages.
oregon ducks oregon football lana turner donald glover julio cesar chavez jr jason segel turducken
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)